King Asa

I usually do my jogging with my dogs at the nearby cemetery near where I stay. Aside from the physical benefits of dog walking and not to mention a very effective way to relieve me of “ministerial stress” it has also given me the special moment to reflect and do some timely realization. My jogging / dog walking ritual allows me to observe several things like the reading of the epitaphs written on the tombs. I remember what Philip Gurlley ( a Quaker minister) said about epitaphs, in reading people’s epitaphs you can read the name of the person and two important dates: birth date and the death date. Here you realize the brevity of life and you can’t ignore the question that runs like this “ between those two dates is there a life well lived?”

What then is a well lived life? By what standard shall it be measured? Who can say that such life is well lived? As a believer in Jesus Christ I am confident that eternal destiny of those who trusted Christ as their Lord is already guaranteed safe! But the life lived while waiting for eternity is another story. One can be saved and yet die sad. I have in my mind King Asa the king who called on the Lord for Help and deliverance and yet on the 35^th year of his rule Asa declined spiritually from brokenness he is back to self sufficiency, you can read his story in 2 Chronicles 15-16. He died sad and obviously he did not lived a well lived life. For the simple standard of the condition of his heart, he NO LONGER CALLED ON THE LORD FOR HELP!

Here’s the answer to our question what’s a well lived life? A well lived life is the life that is not lived for self but for the GLORY of the Lord, a life that breathes on the altar of fervent prayer calling upon the Lord for Help, a life that is HUNGRY for God Himself and daily surrendered for His purpose. Jesus Christ our Lord must be the source of our strength and His glory the pursuit of our living. Have you ever taken a necessary pause and ask yourself the timely question “Am I read for eternity?” “Am I living a well lived life?” The answer lies in the person of Christ. Jesus defines what a well lives life is.

“…..Even when the disease became life threatening, he (Asa) did not seek

The LORD’S HELP.” (2 Chronicles 16:13)

Oh how sad, having begun with trusting God and ended trusting self. Sad indeed! We need the Lord today more than we needed Him yesterday. Let us always find ourselves in great need of God! This is how we face eternity and live life well! I NEED THEE OH I NEED THEE EVERY HOUR I NEED THEE!

Learning to face your doubts in grace

The Christian journey is not about a race it’s a journey of faith and spiritual maturity. Along this rugged path we learn to deal with the realities of sufferings and other many obstacles that actually birth more questions than doubt. I agree with the feeling and honest observation of Dr. Charles Swindoll about the hymn “My Faith has found a resting place” there’s a line that says “it ends my fears and doubts” according to Chuck though our faith is settled in Christ, it does not end our fears and doubts. I bring myself aside and try to ask the hard questions regarding the issue of doubt. I must admit I have many more in my heart. Candidly, I say that sometimes I need to confront my self after I preach a sermon the hard question that probes down the depth of my heart-“Do I really believe what I just have said?” It’s a scary yet necessary moment.

Who drives the dark clouds of doubt away? How long and how soon are they gone? Or how quick they return? I take refuge on the grace of our Lord in dealing with my doubts, especially how the Lord is ever present and ever gracious when we are bombarded with our doubts, even those ones that falls border line with being a heretic? Yes the Lord remains GRACIOUS. Remember Thomas often called the “doubter” it took 8 days in doubt before finally recovering from it. I wonder how was life in those days of doubt? What could have happened if the Master did not meet him? Perhaps the relevant question now is what are going to do with our own “8 days” or more days in doubt? Let’s learn to face it in grace as the Master is gracious. When in doubt I find these insights very helpful

.

• When in doubt express it.
• When in doubt learn to face it instead of covering it
• When in doubt learn to restrain in making commitments or declaration, put aside.
• When in doubt learn from it, pay attention to it
• When in doubt take it to God in honest prayer.
• When in doubt depend on God to triumph over it.
• When in doubt learn to live with it

As of the moment I find these insights helpful to me, they are not hard fast rules and certainly not infallible just some lessons I have learn along the journey of life. I am prayerful that this will be useful to you too, remember this verse:

“Jesus told him, “ I am the way the truth and the life. No one come to the

Father except through me.” John 14:6 NLT

This is the bed rock foundation of evangelical Christianity, yet before we forget this is God’s gracious answer to a disciple who dared express his doubt. The presence of doubt in our hearts does not erase the grace of God, honestly it magnifies it! Let’s all learn to deal with our doubts in GRACE.

Prayers

I think the best answer i got on the question "why pray?" is from Philip Yancey, "we pray,because Jesus prayed" Prayer though much talked about, much affirmed that its really needed remains a bitter herb to us. There's no immediate attraction to it like a 'hersheys" bar, it's actually so plain and yet once you are in it the plainer it can be the best you enjoy it. Though well meaning many of us ministers have added a lot of our own additives than what God meant prayer to be. How sad and how sour legalism turned prayer to be. As i look back since 2005 in the last month of August when my heart was stirred by God to really pray! The battle is on not of any excessive warfare stuff, but more on the battle to the complications that our legalistic heart has attached to something plain and liberating like prayer.

Helps me a lot to simply things when i go back to the basic that prayer is the cry of the helpless, and that God hears the cry of the helpless, regardless of there semantics or sound doctrine. It's not a lecture, a monologue its a blood bought communion with the Almighty! How could i miss this in the 20 plus years of ministry! Now that God brought it back my battle cry is Lord help is see it as plain as you want us to see it. May we learn to grace it all over with the oil of your mercy, may it always remain a sweet hour of prayer. Free us from additives, may we trust Christ and trust Him alone! Just plain prayer no additives please.

Feelings

Feelings misty watered colored feelings este memories pala hehehehhe. Actually i have nothing specific in my mind this time. I want to veer towards an untapped strength in us, it's always a suspect for being inaccurate, and when you venture to take time to relish it's meaning you get a lot of cautions than encouragement- im talking about feeling your feelings. Honestly, i think there's a place for this in ones heart or much more in one's theology. As write, i am trying to resist all the shields that others and most of the time i have made around this matter. They are well meaning shields to protect you from the excess i agree. yet too much of these "protective shields" robs us of something wonderful? hmmmp

I would like to dare trod a little bit deeper in this uncharted water of my life. Being afraid of water i think i shall go to it inch by inch, if your anchor is deep in grace and truth this journey i think appreciates grace that allows you to walk in the unconventional. With a cup of coffee in a lazy saturday afternoon, savoring the remaining moments of rest, i will give it a try..... i am starting to smile allowing my heart to bring me to the most happy, romantic, scary moments of my life. This brings a dash of colour in my black and white existence. Perhaps the next step to try is travel.....ooooops im getting deep out from my hole. Lord help!

this few moments to be me at least in this blog, makes me feel good inside. Tomorrow will be work i really want to say worship at church but sometimes it really feel work than worship. I prayerful that God will change my heart, to be truly His worshiper than just someone who happen to say things about God. I hope this will be the beginning of something meaningful in my very predictable existence. I venture to ask why good moments only last for a short time? Romance love and spontaneous chat something rare now a days? The need to survive and the need to put others first invades your few moments of happiness. Rules over relationships, unwritten expectations, and an eternal hounding of some sound that you must act this way or that continue to dogged you all along... this is how i feel today. Heresy perhaps? I think its honesty with my feelings that has been for sometime kept. Thank God I can speak free to Him in prayer, especially those ones that cannot qualify to be in the pastoral prayer yet God desires to hear it. I think God wants me to visit my feelings more often than once in a while, really makes me human than a minister. Im beginning to enjoy the journey.

Waiting?!

Who wants to wait? Who is not irritated when you are trapped into a waiting mode by someone who comes late? By nature we dont want to be kept waiting, this is especially true to those who made it a goal not to make others wait for them. However waiting changes its mode when we see how God is involved in the waiting period whether voluntary or induced. Here we begin to see things in a different light. Here we realized the disaster we could have gotten ourselves into or others if we did not wait.

Waiting on the Lord is a holy productive time of listening to His voice and to your heart too. We listen to Gods' voice and humbly submit to His ways. It is transcending the pressure to hurry and the vicious snare of worry. It is a choice to turn the intensity of worry into fervent prayers. Then like something too good to be true we experience the peace of God that no human mind can ever understand. Prayer and God's word under the guidance of the Holy Spirit are the tools we need in waiting on the Lord. I believe when you decide to wait on the Lord than rush into what you think right and what you labeled as urgent brings about more benefits than you can imagine . The hurried and the worried gets the nod of the crowd( who like them are cruel perfectionist) because of their fast track lives, but the calm and prayerful (at heart and not showing it as a spiritual badge) gets a deep sense of the wonder of God Himself,

Perhaps a good question to ponder is "why am i such in a hurry? Or why am I so worried? let this probing question test our actions so we can see the perspective of God and in prayer experience His peace. There are greater danger and disaster when we go ahead of God, and to let us taste our own doze God lets us, so when we hit th consequences of our impulsiveness head on we come back wanting to wait, no longer trapped but broken, humbled. Remember that in the Love of God everything is on time. meaning there's no need to hurry and worry! When our hearts are trained by God into a waiting mode, even morning rush can be a blessed hush- becoming a pleasant time of communion with the Lord.

"Wait patiently for the LORD Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the LORD." Psalm 27:14 NLT